Was Lethal Force Necessary?

The Hartford Courant reported this morning that a man was shot by state police within a five minute walk from my office (and even closer to the State Capitol). Did he have a gun? Was he holding a hostage captive? Had he committed a capital felony? Did the confrontation take place in the dark of night? Did two trained and highly experienced state troopers have a reasonable fear for their lives? No, no, no, no, no. He had left the stolen auto at the corner of Russ and Broad Streets and was running from the police. In the parking lot of the Firebox Restaurant he pulled a knife and refused to drop it; both of the troopers, members of the state police SWAT team, fired their weapons and the suspect was taken to Hartford Hospital where he was pronounced dead. All this took place shortly before noon yesterday. It is a wonder that no one else was injured by the gunfire, the last time I was at the Firebox there were lots of people around at noon.

There is no doubt, the man who was shot was one of the bad guys; in a short period of time he had committed sexual assault, auto theft, & bank robbery. He was on probation after committing first-degree robbery and he did lead police on a chase during which he had been involved in a traffic accident. He needed to be stopped and arrested, but is it not reasonable to expect that two trained and experienced members of a SWAT team could disarm and arrest a single man with a single knife. Where was the Tazer? Where are the other non-lethal means of subduing a person?

I am not buying that this was a necessary use of force.